1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a novelty amusement toy, specifically, an improved apparatus for playing a game of thumb wrestling incorporating a stabilizing handle.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
In its simplest form, the game of thumb wrestling has been enjoyed by children and adults for generations. The basic game is played by interlocking the hands of two opponents in such a way that the index, middle, ring and pinky fingers of one player are firmly curled around the corresponding fingers of the opposing player's hand. This leaves each player's thumb unencumbered and creates a naturally stable playing surface comprised of the top edges of the opponents' interlocked index fingers upon which each player attempts to use his or her thumb to trap and hold down the opposing player's thumb for a previously agreed-upon count.
Heretofore, attempts have been made to enhance the enjoyment of the game of thumb wrestling with apparatuses resembling miniature wrestling rings. These apparatuses generally consist of two- or three-dimensional representations of wrestling rings whose game surfaces contain a hole or holes through which opponents insert their thumbs upwardly and beneath which players interlock hands in the manner described above.
These attempts at creating an apparatus for enhancing the enjoyment of thumb wrestling have suffered from a number of disadvantages, a common disadvantage being the inefficient or nonexistent means for stabilizing and anchoring a game ring surface to the players' interlocked hands.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,165 to Schmidt and Menke (1974) discloses a complicated apparatus for playing a game of thumb wrestling that surrounds the players' hands as in a cage and requires the time-consuming adjustment of ring surface height to ensure the ring surface remains in close proximity to and does not separate from the players' interlocked hands. This approach requires several interchangeable or adjustable elements, is costly to produce, and causes delays each time players with varying hand sizes take to the ring.
Additionally, the patent cited in the previous paragraph discloses only a single opening in the game ring surface through which both players' thumbs are upwardly inserted. As a result, players do not actually compete to depress each other's thumbs against the wrestling mat, or game surface, itself, but rather must use an imaginary gauging means for determining when a match ends; this diminishes the realistic impression of wrestling since in real wrestling the loser is forcibly pinned against the wrestling ring surface itself.
The problem of realistically representing a pin, or end of match, in wrestling was partially overcome by the 1983 publication of "The Official Book of Thumb Wrestling" (Workman Publishing Company), which incorporated two holes in its game ring surface instead of one. This format created a solid wrestling region between the two thumb holes, allowing one player's thumb to firmly pin an opponent's thumb against the ring surface itself as in real wrestling. However, "The Official Book of Thumb Wrestling" included no means for stabilizing and anchoring the game ring surface to the players' interlocked hands. Rigorous games of thumb wrestling between spirited opponents thus resulted in the book wobbling and in some cases falling off the players' interlocked hands, thereby diminishing enjoyment of the game and or terminating it prematurely.
Neither of the prior art inventions cited above anticipated a structure whereby the force created by the interlocked fingers of the opponents' hands would be exploited as a means for stabilizing and anchoring the game ring surface upon the players' hands.
Therefore it can be seen that there remains a need for a thumb wrestling apparatus incorporating a simplified, efficient means for ensuring the game ring surface remains in close proximity to the opponents' hands; that requires no time-consuming adjustments to accommodate hands of varying sizes; that includes a solid wrestling region located between opposing thumbs so as to more closely represent the action of a pin in real wrestling; and that employs the force created by the interlocked fingers of the opponents' hands to stabilize and anchor the game ring surface upon the players hands.